Hemi and Jacqui Whyte kickstarted the Waihi Beach access mat project with a social media post voicing their sadness at not being able to visit the beach. Photos / Rebecca Mauger
"Wow, look at this! It's amazing."
Hemi Whyte last week had his first visit to Waihi Beach water's edge in two years.
The last time involved reversing his mobility van to the boat ramp and using a walker to get him close to the surf.
But it wasn't easy and they couldn't do that now, says wife Jacqui.
"It's never simple, you don't just shove your togs and towel into a bag and go to the beach."
Now life has been made a little easier for the ocean-loving couple from Waihi Beach, with the introduction of beach access mats at the north end.
Last week, Hemi was keen to get as close to the water as he could. As soon as his power chair exited the van, he was powering off down the ramp across the new access mats with Jacqui and the Hauraki Coromandel Post in close pursuit.
When he reached the end he took it all in. Hemi and Jacqui were ecstatic.
Sixty metres of matting now run down to the hard sand, with another 20sq m of matting beside it as a platform.
"I just can't wait, I know exactly what we are going to do," Jacqui says. "We are going to come here one day with our youngest Leo with a picnic and we'll park up ... pop Hemi's feet in a bucket of seawater and Leo will probably chuck water at him. It'll be wonderful.
"This means so much to us."
Jacqui — in a way — started the Accessible Waihi Beach Project with a social media post expressing how her husband could not access the beach.
The community responded and two beach wheelchairs were donated, followed by the beach mat project guided by Waihi Beach Community Events & Promotions' Cindy Clare and resident Dave MacCalman, of the Halberg Foundation.
The last stage of the mats was completed last week and an opening do was held on Sunday.
Jacqui wrote to the sponsors thanking them for making the mats a reality. She's amazed it all happened so quickly too. The letter outlined their plight and how it has always been hard watching others enjoy the beach, especially as Hemi is such a fan of the sea.
Hemi's father was a Pihi beach surf lifesaver and the family spent most weekends in the water.
Hemi has spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1), a rare disorder similar to Huntington's disease. He was diagnosed five years ago. Jacqui says Hemi went from working full time, being an active dad who loved to swim, fish and boogie board at the beach, to being in a power chair unable to walk, drive, or shower unaided.
But Jacqui says he is one of the most positive people she knows.
For more photos from the access mats opening day, see page 8.
The couple spend five months a year in America running their business.